SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2

By 1987, the slasher movie rage was well over, but the dead teenager genre still continued to perform well on video. However, the Nightmare on Elm Street series was picking up steam with it's third entry, with subsequent sequels planned for the next few years and rip-offs arriving monthly. With this in mind, Concorde began planning a sequel to their hit Slumber Party Massacre. To safeguard the production, and to avoid scaring off any sequel-shy talent, production began with everyone convinced they were making a film called Don't Let Go. Deborah Brock, another Corman film school student, was hired as debutante director.

Crystal Bernard, the future country singer caught between Happy Days and Wings on television, stars as Courtney Bates. Courtney, you will recall, is the little sister of Valerie (now played by Cindy Eilbacher in flashbacks) and sole survivor of the "massacre at the Craven house" to retain her sanity. Or did she? Lately Courtney has been suffering wild, violent nightmares, in which "Driller Killer" Russ Thorn is reborn as some kind of greaser rock star (Atanas Ilitch) with a drill bit protruding from the neck of his big red guitar. Maybe Crystal was on Happy Days too long and Fonzie followed her into the movies. Also, she and her mom now sport Texas accents.

This entry in the series is almost a musical. Courtney now fronts a band with her three friends, Sally (Heidi Kozak), Amy (Kimberly McArthur, Miss January 1982), and Sheila (actress/gymnast Juliette Cummins). The music is surprisingly good, as the girls lip sync to songs by Wednesday Week.

Sheila is rich, and invites the band up to her dad's new condo in Desert Springs for the weekend to practice for a school dance they're playing, and to celebrate Courtney's birthday. Courtney hopes the weekend will dissipate her nightmares.

But no such luck. The killer is back again, and what's worse, Courtney is beginning to have trouble telling what's real and what's in her dreams. Val visits and tells her, "Don't go all the way!" (good advice in a slasher flick). A funky chicken jumps out of the refrigerator and attacks her. There's a red tide in the tub when she takes a bath, then Sally's head turns into a huge zit and explodes. The police (Officers Voorhies and Kreuger) don't believe her story, especially when Sally shows up safe and sound.

Brock goes for pink in her décor more than red, making the film look more like a comedy than a horror film. There's either pink furniture, wallpaper, or Heidi Kozak's pink pants in nearly every shot. This isn't confusing, but refreshing -- this is one of those horror films where you're almost disappointed when the killing starts. While watching Rock and Roll High School on TV (the sequel to which Brock would direct a few years later), a scene from the original is recreated. The girls do a slut dance while the boys arrive and peep through a window ("We've died and gone to heaven," they say, and, "I didn't think girls really did that stuff").

In fact, it's a full 50 minutes before anybody really gets killed. When Courtney starts to make out with her new boyfriend, the killer pops out of her dreams and drills the poor bastard before he can get to second base. Then all hell breaks loose, with the killer chasing everybody all over the place ala Scooby Doo, pausing for a song and dance number between homicides. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say that the driller's new look is not explained to my satisfaction and the surprise dénouement is disappointing and makes no sense. There, I bet you want to run out and rent it now, right?

The disc comes with a fun SPM2 trailer, as well as trailers for Slumber Party Massacre I and III, and Sorority House Massacre 2. A talent biography section has bios for Corman, Bernard, McArthur, and Cummins (who bears the same last name as the make-up man).

Heidi Kozak went on to be in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Brian Yuzna's Society, and became a regular on Dr. Quinn. Jennifer Rhodes, who has a small role as Mrs. Bates, was also in Heathers, Ghost Fever, The Baby Doll Murders and is currently in a recurring role on Charmed.